West v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.

Genevieve West (plaintiff) entered a HAMP trial-period loan modification with Chase (defendant), making all required payments, but Chase denied a permanent modification based on a net-present-value calculation and failed to send West the input data it had promised to provide for review despite her repeated timely requests; Chase also told her by phone that no foreclosure sale was scheduled, but her home was sold at trustee's sale two days later. West sued for fraud and breach of contract; the trial court sustained Chase's demurrer, and West appealed.

Whether a plaintiff asserting fraud must plead that the defendant knowingly made a false representation intending to deceive the plaintiff, and that the plaintiff justifiably relied on it to her damage, with sufficient specificity to survive a demurrer.